Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry condemned a statement from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that criticized recent strikes on critical infrastructure in Ukraine and Russia, calling it “shameful” and accusing the organization of creating a false moral equivalence between Ukraine and Russia.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine acts in line with international humanitarian law and its inherent right to self-defense, unlike Russia, which has repeatedly targeted civilian infrastructure.
He added that the ICRC statement “whitewashes Russian war crimes” and undermines trust in the organization, noting its long-standing difficulties in securing systematic access to Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians held illegally by Moscow.
Red Cross envoy summoned for explanations
Sybiha said the head of the ICRC delegation to Ukraine will be summoned to the Foreign Ministry for explanations. He also invited the officials who drafted and approved the statement to visit Ukraine and spend a day in a cold house, suggesting it might give them “a sense of reality.”
The ICRC had warned that recent strikes on electricity, water, and heating infrastructure in “Kyiv, Dnipro, Donetsk, Belgorod, and other areas” have left millions of people without basic services during freezing temperatures.
Ariane Bauer, the organization’s regional director for Europe and Central Asia, said the strikes’ cumulative impact on civilians is “psychologically exhausting - and life threatening for the most vulnerable” and stressed that attacks causing disproportionate harm to civilians are prohibited.
Ukraine rejects "false equivalence"
Ukraine’s MFA rejected these concerns as a false equivalence, emphasizing that the country continues to protect civilians while Russia’s attacks deliberately target essential services and civilian areas.
Kyiv is currently facing its worst energy crisis since the full-scale invasion began. Russian strikes on 9 January forced the city to drain heating systems in 6,000 buildings - an unprecedented measure - with around 300 still without heat nearly a week later.
Ukraine's strikes on Russian infrastructure, by contrast, target military-industrial and energy facilities that sustain Moscow's war effort - including refineries, ammunition plants, chemical factories, and fuel depots - rather than civilian residential areas.
